Full resolution (JPEG) - On this page / på denna sida - I. The Right of the Child to Choose His Parents
<< prev. page << föreg. sida << >> nästa sida >> next page >>
Below is the raw OCR text
from the above scanned image.
Do you see an error? Proofread the page now!
Här nedan syns maskintolkade texten från faksimilbilden ovan.
Ser du något fel? Korrekturläs sidan nu!
This page has never been proofread. / Denna sida har aldrig korrekturlästs.
54 The Century of the Child
to be protected from hasty acts, in order to
distinguish with open eyes, when their feel-
ings themselves are uncertain. It must be
branded upon their souls and their nerves that
they will be fallen beings if they give them-
selves from other reasons than from recipro-
cated love. Under these convictions alone,
will there be a great transformation of present
ethical standards. Men think that they can
do with marriage what they will; that they
can enter upon it with any kind of motive;
they think that they must marry from feel-
ings of duty, to fulfil some given engagement,
or to atone for some fault; that they have the
right to enter upon a marriage without love
because they long for home life. While these
things are regarded as legitimate, men stand
on the same ethical level as the person who
commits murder because he has first stolen,
or has stolen because he was hungry. The
great crime against the holiness of generation
is believing that one can treat arbitrarily, the
most sensitive sphere of life, the sphere where
innumerable secret influences order the des-
tiny of a new generation.
While children continue to be born in the
cold atmosphere of duty, or in the stormy
atmosphere of discord, while people continue
<< prev. page << föreg. sida << >> nästa sida >> next page >>
